NorCal basketball roundup: Menlo stuns Clayton Valley Charter

It was a nightmare scenario for Menlo School after Lehigh-bound point guard Joe Foley picked up his second foul midway through the first quarter in an opening-round game Wednesday night at high-powered Clayton Valley Charter.

Foley finished with a season-low five points, but the 13th-seeded Knights still managed to pull off a 65-61 upset on the road in Concord.

"It was unbelievable," Menlo coach Keith Larsen said. "They ran and got the ball out of his hands, and Cole Kastner and Riley Woodson were unbelievable.”

Riley finished with 31 points and Kastner had 14 as Foley had a big game distributing the ball.

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Menlo (24-3) was coming off back-to-back losses in the Central Coast Section Open Division playoffs — 80-58 against Mitty in the first round and 80-48 against St. Ignatius in a consolation game.

"The kids are so fired up," Larsen said. "It was so different than the way we’ve won in the past, but SI and Mitty, we took a little bit of a self evaluation."

After reviewing a scouting report of fourth-seeded Clayton Valley (26-4), the Knights reinvented themselves for this game. They slowed the pace down against their high-powered opponent.

"It was fun because it was kind of the whole college game where you had four days to scout," said Larsen, a former assistant coach on the Stanford men’s basketball team. "We knew we couldn’t run with them because they were a dribble-drive type team that shot a lot of 3s, so we walked the ball up court, used the shot clock and then with about 10 seconds to go we went to work — and it seemed to work out fine."

Next up is a trip to Fresno for Saturday’s quarterfinal against No. 12 Central (25-7), which pulled off a 73-72 upset in Mountain View at No. 5 St. Francis (19-8).

Clayton Valley ends its season with back-to-back crushing defeats — Friday in the North Coast Section Division I final against Heritage and now Wednesday at home against Menlo.

Archbishop Mitty 73, Jesuit-Carmichael 54: Mitty turned a two-point halftime lead at home into a 73-54 rout of Jesuit in a first-round Division I game. Riley Grigsby led the way for the third-seeded Monarchs with 23 points. Devan Sapp and Joseph Vaughn each added 16 apiece.

"The guys came out firing on all cylinders in the second half," Mitty coach Tim Kennedy said. "Defensively we were locked in a little bit better and forcing them into tough shots and limiting them to just one shot. Devon Sapp was able to find his 3-point range, Joseph Vaughn got downhill to the rim and Riley scoring in all sorts of fashion. "It was a great team effort."

After barely qualifying for the postseason, the Monarchs (12-16) seemed to have saved their best for last.

"I think the guys know when we’re consistent and focused that we can play with anybody," Kennedy said.

Of course, home-court advantage didn’t hurt.

"Especially when you play a team from Sacramento, that takes a toll on the travel," Kennedy said. "So it’s nice being in your own confines and you’re comfortable with the gym. We’re very fortunate to have that."

Mitty advances to play host to St. Ignatius — a foe from the West Catholic Athletic League — ,on Saturday night.

The North Coast Section Division II runners-up led by six points at halftime and by four through three quarters before putting the game away in the fourth to advance to play No. 7 seed Dublin at home in a Division I quarterfinal Saturday night.

“Franklin never gave up,” Las Lomas coach Brian Dietschy told NorCalSportsTV’s Chris Babcock afterward. “Saw them on film three times against Capital Christian and they just keep getting after it.”

Dublin 62, Serra 58: Serra gave seventh-seeded Dublin all it could handle, but the host Gaels moved on to the quarterfinals as Robby Beasley scored 24 points,

Conner Jackson added 11 points and Jack Nielsen chipped in with 11 points. Dublin trailed 38-32 at halftime, pulled to within one after three quarters and then outlasted the 10th-seeded Padres in the fourth to move on.

St. Ignatius 71, Berkeley 54: After a delay at the start because of a power outage, St. Ignatius provided an immediate jolt by building a 10-point lead after one quarter.

Berkeley closed to within two at halftime, but S.I. took command in the third quarter and went on to the road victory to advance to play at league mate and No. 3 seed Mitty on Saturday night.